Changes
by Banaphool
Summary: Everyone changes, but some people have no control over it, because everything else was a lie. HGBZ 10/01/08-editted
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:** This is just something that inspired me when I was running up and down the exorcist stairs with my father just for fun.

_Thoughts Limited to Hermione_"Words being spoken"

Hermione's large and round brown eyes glazed over the blazing fire in the fireplace. She was sitting on a plump pale green couch sitting in the middle of a pale yellow room with pastel paintings of flowers hanging on the walls. The couch faced the ivory tiled fireplace, the fire blazing inside the incandescent source giving off the only light in the room. As the fire flickered it gave the room a slightly haunting appearance.

Hermione's hands were folded in her lap for seconds and then she would grab the ends of a strand of her curly brown hair. Her brown eyes had a glassy look as another silent tear slid down her cheek. The tear's trail down her soft cheek left a streak down her sun kissed skin. She then gasped and crossed her arms ignoring the itch of her maroon turtle neck. Her round face looked thinner when she cried. This time her quiet sobs felt like life was eating her soul away.

This winter break she came home to visit her parents. Expecting to be home and spending quality time with her father. Maybe she and her mom would go get last minute presents for cousins and family friends. As a family they would make a gingerbread house and make Christmas treats. They would go out singing Christmas carols. Hermione's favorite was Silver Bells. Christmas Eve they would put up their stockings and leave cookies for "Santa." In the morning the cookies would be gone as if Santa Claus had eaten them and a note left from "Santa" but when Hermione was little was sure that that was her father's handwriting.

On the eve of Christmas they would build the biggest snowman they could if it was snowing. Usually the snowmen looked like a pile of snow, and not have and human or animal like resemblance at all. They would eat a roasted ham dinner and go to sleep early to get presents "quicker" as her father put it when she was little. In the morning they would be awoken by a loud alarm clock that screamed Christmas carols loudly. They would sit around the Christmas tree and Hermione's mother opened hers first, then Hermione, and then her father. Afterwards they would eat their large breakfast and play with their new gifts all day.

This Christmas, things were different, way different, a redefining different. When her parents picked her up from the train station there were no words exchanged the entire ride back home. When they entered their cute house in a friendly neighborhood, they sat her down in their living room on that same pale green couch. They sat next to her wrapping their arms around her and in unison sighed deeply.

"Honey…we need to talk."

Hermione began to worry if they knew about the party she threw over the summer where there was only a little beer. But something told her, that was not it. Something was definitely wrong and it slowly began to tear her heart apart.

"You see…along time ago…"

"When you were just a itty-bitty baby…"

Hermione's eyes widened, jumping to a conclusion,

"AM I REALLY A BOY!?"

Her parents both jumped, "No honey…you are definitely a girl."

Hermione's heart began to race, what was wrong? Everything was perfect, picture perfect, the best as it could possibly be. Why was there always something wrong with things that were good? Her heart was beating so fast, she was almost sure that her parents were getting nervous because they could hear it.

"Honey…when you were just a little baby, your mother did not exactly…carry you to term."

Her eyes widened.

"What do you mean? Was I a science experiment? Did you go to a lab because you couldn't have children? Are you my mother? Dad is she my stepmom? Or was I a science project but was there a mistake? Was I a mistake? Holy shit, I was a mistake?! Did you get the left over child? Or did the hospital make a mistake?...Are you guys even my parents?"

They both looked away from her. Tears threaten to spill from her burning eyes; it was typical for her to stress like this, but she felt like she had a reason to.

"Darling…almost sixteen years ago…you were sent to us…from a witch like you…"

"She was in big trouble…and she was one of our friends from grade school…"

"She died the day after you were dropped off…"

"You were about three months old…but we were never sure… when your birthday was exactly."

"She never told us who your father was…but we knew…you looked like him…"

"She told us that the charm would be lifted…when you turned sixteen…we mean really sixteen…"

"We think you were born in Janurary….instead of April…."

Hermione froze her eyes burning red and watery. Her mind was blank and she looked at her so called father… or Mr. Granger. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated.

"Concealing charm?" She asked, saying word more for her own benefit. Her parents nodded.

"Who's my mother?"

He rubbed his eyes, that were also glassy and anyone could tell he was on the verge of tears.

"Her name was Sheila Greengrass…"

_I am a pureblood? Sheila Greengrass, like Daphne Greengrass?_

"Is that my name, Hermione Greengrass?"

They both shook their heads and looked at their feet. _Oh fuck, it can't get worse can it? Watch my name be Cordelia or something…_

"Your name is…Carolina Greengrass." Her mother said.

"Wasn't it Catalina? Remember, we almost choose to stick with that name…"

"Yes…you're right."

Hermione blinked for a second, and as if her world began to break apart piece by piece she broke into a heavy sob. Jane Granger tried to wrap her arms around her comfortingly, but Hermione shrugged them off. Jane Granger shouldn't be comforting Catalina, it was her mothers job to do that.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters created by J.K. Rowling. She owns baby.


	2. Chapter 2

It happened. She was now somebody else entirely than Hermione Granger.

Her bushy brown hair was now a silky long black that went down to her mid-back. Her eyes were blue and she had long and thick eyelashes. Her eyebrows were thinner and more defined. Her nose was slightly smaller but pointier. Her face was thinner and her skin was a slightly unhealthy pale. Her legs were longer and slimmer; good bye to petite and chubby figure from before. On the upside she went up a cup size and had other features that actually made her seem like a girl, but the moment she examined herself in the mirror she felt tears threaten from the corners of her eyes.

She reached into her drawer under the sink revealing a pair of scissors. She grabbed her hair and began trimming. She needed something, anything, to get her mind of this random and life changing transformation. She felt like she could cut through anything; the scissors were the only things she had under control.

She felt a sob crawl up her throat and push from her lips. Scaring her, she jumped the scissors slicing her shoulder and flying into the sink. She gasped, feeling blood ooze from her arm and the pain that followed. She stared at the wound. Blood dripped down her arm. She turned the sink knobs towards her letting water flush the hair and blood from the scissors down the sink.

She stuck her palm under the water, letting its cool free texture embrace the surface of her skin. She then splashed it onto her cut, watching the red color of blood fading into the transparent color and density of water.

She grabbed her wand that sat next to her and she mutter the words to a healing spell. A small light formed at the end of the wand and then grew dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. _Great_, she thought, _now my wand is as useless as a wooden stick could ever be_.

Feeling even more helpless she reached back into her drawer and pulled out muggle first aid: gauze and band aids. She grabbed the scissors and tore the gauze roll in half and wrapped it around her injury.

Admitting her defeat she looked back into the mirror. She stared at the mess that was her hair and realized with her new look she could pull it off. She pulled a clip back on the hair that landed in her face like bangs onto the top of her head, having the expression of something finally was going to be under somewhat control.

She walked out of the bathroom and slipped on her a pair of black pants that felt like flannel. They hung loosely on her now prominent hips. She put on her white button down that was looser around her middle but tighter around her chest. She lazily put on her Gryffindor tie and grabbed her bag. Her feet were smaller, her shoes barely stayed on her heels.

She walked out of the bathroom casually; her room mates had already left before she awoke so she was free to walk around her room with out exposing herself as a different person. She thought about leaving the common room and figured if she left as unobtrusively as possible she would be fine, and someone could assume she was a first year or someone else who had tried out a new glamour charm. She would skip breakfast, and when she knew the meal was over she would go to the Owlery, where she knew students would be in class; afterwards she would find Dumbledore or find help.

She grabbed her school bag and walked outside to the courtyard; the cold air blasted against her. She realized she forgot her coat. _Damn_. Her eyes looked down at the ground took a step forward, snow crunched underneath. The snow was fluttering down on top of her pretty head, and she was sure she would get sick. _Not that things could really get any worse_.

She walked over to a stone cold bench and sat staring at the frozen fountain in the middle of the courtyard just dreading every second of her pointless life. Then she heard more snow crunching…the sounds of foot steps. She soon saw Ron walking towards her his flaming red hair blowing in the breeze, when he looked at her he still had idea that the woman he was staring at was Hermione, just some lunatic without a coat and a Gryffindor tie. That automatically made her a friend in Ron's opinion.

"Are you mad woman, have you realized its snowing!?"

"I have noticed that, but what's the point, my life is pointless anyway…"

"You have your own problems to solve, but could you help me?"

"It depends…"

"Do you know where Hermione is? I cannot find her."

Hermione smiled widely,

"No clue."

"Really? I was told she was around here."

"Who told you?"

"That bastard Zabini…called her some book whore too; after I find her I am beating him into a pulp……Well if you find her, tell her I am looking for her."

"I already have."

He stared at her weirdly,

"Listen lady, I think you have some seriously mental issues and I suggest you seek help immediately." Ron said slowly backing away.

She muttered, "Whatever you say Ronald."

Ron froze still and all of the blood rushed to his face. She would have laughed and his petrified expression, but the under the other circumstances she decided not to.

"Hermione?" He whined in a high pitched voice.

"Ronald?"

Ron jumped about seven feet up into the air and gaped.

"Holy Fucking Shit."

He stared at her for a moment and then rubbed his eyes a couple of times as if he was thinking he was dreaming, but something inside told him that was the true real Hermione sitting before him in shabby clothes, with a thin pale face, bright blue eyes, and strange black hair.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?"

"It's my sixteenth birthday…" Hermione muttered just remembering.

"No, your birthday is in April. Hermione…what have they done to you? I swear I will go beat Malfoy's head in!!"

"Ron, this is me. My name is not fucking Hermione anymore…"

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Apparently my whole life, was a lie. This was all just a fucking lie that I was living…" Hermione shouted then gradually turning into a whisper not particularly at Ron but at everything else.

"Wha…?"

"I do not have time to explain this to you!"

She stood up quickly and began to walk past Ron. He continued to stare at her walk past in with more confidence in her step and the seductive sway of her hips. Then as she turned to go through the door she slipped, falling flat on her arm. She screeched and then rolled over to sit up, her bottom now numb on the icy ground. Her lower arm and wrist was a dark purple and swollen. There were two cuts from where the ice tore her skin. _Great, more blood._

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ron rushed over by her.

"Happy Fucking Birthday, huh?"

Ron scooped her up and walked inside. Her arm turned a shade brighter as they entered the warm welcoming castle, but it was still obviously broken. Feeling incredibly irritated and uncomfortable, she yelled,

"Ron, I can walk perfectly fine, ya know?! I broke my arm, not my legs."

He placed her on the ground, in shock of how light she was. He stared at her in disbelief,

"Gee Hermione, you seem like a incredibly different person, but when your hurt you are just as bitchy as ever…" Ron smiled at her teasingly, hoping that would cheer her up in some way.

_WRONG!_

With the uninjured arm she whipped her palm against his cheek and stomped away in tears, "My name is not Hermione, never again will I be affiliated with that name."

As she continued down the corridor, feeling Ron's incredulous eyes following her, she realized her bag was caked with snow and all of her books would soon be soaked. _Fuck._


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione, hated the Hospital Wing, and if she went there she would be caught and accused of intruding. Instead of tending to her fracture she wrapped her arm in a towel she had obtained from the kitchens. It was rather tricky to explain why none of the house-elves have ever seen her before. Her excuse was she was a Beauxbatons exchange student who moved here about two weeks ago.

It had been several hours since her encounter with Ron. She was yet to return to the Gryffindor Tower, but that morning she woke up Catalina Greengrass, and was the last day she would ever be found there. She knew by now Ron had told them how she had magically changed overnight. Everyone would believe him; after all, anything in the world of magic, had to be true in a witch or wizards point of view.

She slowly walked through the corridors heading outside to the Owlery. She still had not come up with an excuse for her changes to her teachers yet. She was sure that maybe somehow, they would understand and let it pass, and she would just hide from her peers all day, but no matter how many times she pictured it she knew she had to consult Dumbledore.

She stepped outside and felt much more comfortable, this time, she was wearing a coat. She trudged through the snow towards a tall skinny toward at the edge of the castle grounds overlooking the black lake. The sky was a cross between black and grey. Snow was falling silently, and the only noise was her shuffling the snow. She found it incredibly peaceful, not having anyone there to help her with their homework, or the annoying cheers from Harry when he beats Ron in Wizard's Chess. Ron's profane vocabulary was at its worst this year, before she knew about the truth of her identity; she would learn a new curse word each day.

In a way, she sort of missed them. _But this is just the way it is_. She looked down at her boots, and then forward. She decided there, from then on, she would be Catalina Greengrass. She would be a new person. She thought of it as a second chance, at a new life, and she should be grateful and never look back.

As she climbed up the frosty steps of the Owlery she looked over the edge and saw the icy lake below, the giant squid's shadow peering through the ice cover. At the opposite edge of the lake, she could see the trees from the Forbidden Forest, where the snowy mountains tops peaked over the dusted tree tops.

She then felt the corners of her mouth curve into a smile; she had not smiled in a long time. She knew she would probably never get a chance to see this again, the pure elegance of winter, so peaceful and silent, all to herself. She sighed and continued her way up the stairs, to the top floor. As she reached the room that was alive with the sound of howls chirping, she wished she could go back to the moment on the stairs, where it was quieter.

She sniffed; the room did not smell the usual, but the crisp winter wind had probably taken away the foul fragrance of bird droppings. She walked over to a snowy white owl. It was Hedwig, and she knew Harry would not mind Hermione using it, even though she was not Hermione he had to understand. She had no other choice. She smiled sadly at the bird. In away, the bird strangely looked like Harry, it a brown mark on its forehead, strangely reminding her of his scar. The bird cooed at her, as if he was accepting her proposal to what she requested. She gave the bird a bigger smile, the bird must have recognized her, for some strange reason, and maybe there was still some Hermione in her. Catalina, deciding to call herself by her true name now, pulled out an envelope from her pocket and handed it to the bird.

The bird clamped its beak tightly to the letter and waited for Catalina to tell her where to go.

Catalina sighed, "To my parents…well…Mr. & Mrs. Granger."

The bird then fluttered away and exited through the window in the Owlery. Catalina looked down at her feet. She had sent the letter to the Grangers telling them she had transformed, and that she was no longer their child. She turned around to walk out the door of the Owlery.

As she reached to grab the handle of the door, she heard a crunching of some sort that was gradually getting louder. Her eyes widened, someone was coming. Catalina desperately tried to find a place to hide. There were not many hiding places around. She chose a shadowy corner in the back of the room where letters to people where usually kept. She hid next to the area with the largest letters.

The opened just as she entered her safety zone. She turned around to see the person from her shadowy sanctuary, her arm accidentally hitting the shelf rather hard, causing her to cry out in pain. The person who had just entered the room jumped and shouted,

"Who's there?"

Catalina had a bad view from her corner of the person, but she was not paying much attention to the person there, but the pain in her arm.

"Come on, this is not game, if it's Daphne I am sorry, I never knew about your father being…whatever."

Catalina recognized that voice.

_Zabini._

Blaise Zabini was the as perverted as you can get Slytherin there ever was. He was a good looking bloke, his hair was a curly black, and his eyes were a deep blue violet. He had bronze skin and a muscular, tall, and lean body. Catalina being a couple inches taller, Blaise would still tower over her. He did draw a lot of attention. He was the Slytherin's Italian Sex Icon. He was similar to Draco Malfoy's reputation, only Draco only shagged the decent women multiple times and had been known to be good at it. Blaise was of course a God in Bed, but had the rep to screw anything with two legs in a mini-skirt. He was also surprisingly brilliant, and Catalina had learned that the other year when he was assigned to tutor other students because it was mandatory or students with grades higher than the average grade to tutor those failing.

She walked out from her hiding spot. When he saw her his eyes widened to the size of mega grapes.

"Um, Daphne, I am sorry, again."

Catalina shook her head.

"I am not Daphne." She said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Blaise gaped. He knew exactly who this person was. Her voice practically gave it away. There was no way, no freaking way that this could possibly be…

"I would be Catalina Greengrass." She said.

"Oh at first I thought you were…wait Greengrass? You mean like Daphne Greengrass?"

Catalina sighed, "I guess so."

"I could have sworn you were someone else, you sound exactly like…"

"Hermione Granger?"

Blaise nodded while Catalina smirked an extremely Slytherin like smirk.

"Do you know her?"

"Hermione Granger, never even existed my friend, she was but merely a whole bunch of fucking lies."

"Wait? You are Hermione?"

"Was Hermione."

"Well, wait, what the bloody hell happened, I saw you just this morning?"

"I really do not have time to explain this."

"Make time, because I am here and listening."

Catalina sighed sadly and looked over at him with eyes begging, _I WANT TO LEAVE!_

"Christmas break my parents sat me down, told me I was never there kid but a friends, and that I would turn into…"

She trembled, feeling and ache that kept returning when she thought of her parents, or Hermione's parents. She looked away, not wanting him to see her tears.

Blaise cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, "Whoa, that's deep shit."

Catalina sighed and swallowed a sob, "Tell me about it."

Her voice cracked. Blaise had the instinct to hug her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear just to take away her pain. But that would be inappropriate, especially since he barely knew this girl, who barely knew herself.

"You know Hermione, nothing is different. No matter what you look like or what your name is, there will still be some Hermione in ya." Blaise said trying his best to cheer her up.

She sniffed and tried to smile, but only embraced more tears, "Thanks."

"When did you wake up and see yourself looking just as stunning as before?"

She took a deep breath trying to keep her lip from quivering into sobs, "Couple of hours ago."

"Have you gone to Dumbledore?"

She stared at him blankly and did not respond; he took that as a no.

"Come on, he would be the best to see at a time like this."

Catalina looked down at her feet.

"I wish I had only thought of it earlier."

"Its fine pet, I mean this whole mess you are in, I would be in too much shock to think."

He chuckled and she nodded at him. He pulled his arm over her shoulder in a friendly gesture, but instead she winced in pain feeling the painful wretch in her wrist. Blaise jumped, scared her had done something to her.

"What's wrong?" He asked feeling terrified he had fucked up something else for her.

"My arms broken…" She muttered under her breathe.

Blaise Zabini shook his head and wrapped an arm around her waist, "You sure are a mess kitten."


End file.
